| Sue Johanson is a grandmother who’s completely comfortable chatting about the virtues of her favourite sex toy, giving advice about blowjobs or tips on how to achieve a female orgasm.
Johanson, the host of The Sunday Night Sex Show on W Network (and formerly the host of The Sunday Night Sex Show on radio) has become a Canadian icon due to her matter of fact but fun approach to any sexual question.
She also has a new show on Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen network called Talk Sex With Sue Johanson, and is now a celebrity in the U.S. with recent guest appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Jeno.
"David Letterman and I had a real sympatico going on. We worked together very, very well. I enjoyed Jay Leno, too," says Johanson. "Americans are just as friendly, just as polite. They are very respectful. I love Americans. I don’t like their politics, but I love Americans."
Johanson says one of the best aspects of her job is speaking at colleges and universities across the country. She’ll be speaking at the University of Calgary’s MacEwan Ballroom on March 2 at 6 p.m.
The same day I interviewed Johanson, the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health had just released a new survey on teens and sex which found that 24 per cent of sexually active teens between the ages of 14 and 17 don’t use any protection, and 68 per cent of them didn’t realize they could get sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from oral sex. The survey showed that most teens knew very little about STIs and only 23 per cent felt the sex education they received at their school was at all useful – 62 per cent said they faced obstacles getting information on sexual health.Meanwhile, between 1997 and 2004 reported cases of gonorrhea in Canada increased by 82 per cent and syphilis cases increased by an astonishing 909 per cent.
Johanson says the fact that so few teens feel that the sex education they’re getting in schools is useful "scares the hell out of me."
"Sex education programs are not designed for kids. The sex education program is designed to…. make the board of education feel that they’re doing something and to keep parents off their back…. But they do nothing in terms of sex education that is controversial and that has any meaning for kids," says Johanson. "It should start very early on so that kids are not embarrassed, not shy, not shocked…. And nothing flaps them, nothing upsets them, nothing is totally unheard of."
Johanson says many sex education classes are still focused around "the relentless search for fallopian tubes" or an obsession with biology, rather than actually giving kids information about what they’re worried about or interested in.
"Kids want to know, ‘Sue, does it hurt the first time you have sex?’ ‘Sue, is it OK to jerk off five times a day?’ That’s what kids want to know. They don’t teach that."
Johanson says she was disturbed that one of the stats in the recent survey showed that 23 per cent of teens think public toilet seats and poor personal hygiene are causes of STIs.
There’s one message that Johanson is adamant about getting out – the need for safe sex.
"I say it’s not negotiable. You will use condoms. That’s it…. If you don’t like using condoms – tough. We’re not having sex. It’s that simple," she says.
She warns people who attend her U of C appearance to "be prepared to be embarrassed" due to her famed frankness. She says people can look forward to a "very funny review of anatomy" and then she’ll move on to masturbation and orgasms and then "touch on" STIs. Finally, the audience can write out questions to her on "Dear Sue" cards, and she tries to answer as many as she can.
When asked what the most common questions are, Johanson says, "For guys – penis size."
"Is there something I can do to make it bigger? Is there something I can do to keep from shooting too fast? For females the question is, ‘how can I have an orgasm and where’s the G-spot?’"
Johanson’s show has recently been sold to networks in Europe and Israel, so it’s not looking like her golden years are going to be quiet anytime soon. And that’s the way she likes it.
"We’re thoroughly enjoying this," she says. "Kids say, ‘when are you going to retire?’ And I just say, ‘Hello. It’s not going to happen right now.’" |
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